Texty For Android Lets You Sync, Send & Receive SMS On Your Computer

While you’re busy working on your computer, attending to a barrage of incoming SMS can prove to be quite a hassle. Texty for Android, in combination with its extension for Google Chrome, turns your computer into an SMS gateway that makes sending and replying to text messages quick and painless. The app syncs your contacts, incoming and outgoing SMS over the web with its Chrome extension, allowing you to send and receive SMS from within Google Chrome.

As of this writing, the app is available as a private beta on the Android Market and the extension is available for download on You can download both the extension and Android app but to have access to them, you’ll have to apply for a beta invite.

You must be logged in with your Google account on both the app and the extension to begin syncing contacts and SMS from your phone to the Chrome extension. By default, the app syncs sent and received SMS between your phone and the Chrome extension. You may disable this feature from Menu > Settings > SMS Text Syncing. You will still be able to send SMS from the extension.

One feature that we would like to see incorporated is the option to restrict syncing to Wi-Fi only. Said feature is particularly useful for those who plan to use the app at home only.

As the extension extracts all contacts affiliated with the registered Google account, you don’t need to type in the whole number of a contact while composing a new text message. Simply type the first few characters of the contact’s name or number in the Send to field and it will provide you with suggestions.

The extension automatically asks for your permission to sync contacts after you log in for the first time. You may do so manually later from Options > Force Sync w/ Google Contacts.

The option to send text messages to multiple contacts is yet to be incorporated. Also, you can’t select contacts directly from the contacts list. Although not completely necessary, the latter feature would be a welcome addition.

For each SMS that is received on your phone, the Chrome extension displays a pop-up from within which, you can send a quick reply. Pop-ups are displayed with a delay of slightly over a second on a user-specified corner of the computer screen (bottom-right corner as per default settings).

SMS threads are arranged in tabs within the extension’s simple interface, where each tab is titled with the name or number of the contact. You may delete a whole thread or selective messages within a thread.

Except for the odd instance where an SMS failed to reach its destination, we found the app to work like a charm during our test-run (tested on an HTC Desire running MIUI 1.4.29). Our opinion? Texty is more than just an accessory. The app actually does increase productivity, saving you loads of time and effort while you’re busy working on your computer. But don’t take our word for it. Try it out for yourself and feel free to leave some feedback in the comment section below.

You can grab it from the Android Market for free via the provided link or QR code. You will still, however, need to be invited to the beta release to have access to the app and its Chrome extension. A link to the online registration form is provided below.

Text Messages: Our Services are primarily designed to help you share information privately with whom you choose. None of the information is ever made public.

Log Data: Our servers automatically record information (“Log Data”) created by your use of the Services. Log Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type, phone type, the referring domain, pages visited, and search terms. Other actions, such as interactions with advertisements, may also be included in Log Data.

Links: Texty may keep track of how you interact with links in Updates by redirecting clicks or through other means. We do this to help improve our Services, including advertising, and to be able to share aggregate click statistics such as how many times a particular link was clicked on.

There is a huge difference between “information not made public” and it being deleted. Maybe the TOS and privacy could be updated to reflect what is actually happening? It would make a lot of people much more open to using the service!

Jack H.

Oh Rick, this is GOOGLE. I’d sell my children to them and feel good about it.

In any case, this makes me really want an android phone now. I had an iPhone, but the monthly bills were pretty high, so I had to go back to a dumb-phone. *drool*

Rick

“We are ex Google employees” – don’t midstake this for Google. As always you have to do your due diligence work and read privacy and TOS agreements. When there is a difference between what is being said on a blog and the actual agreements, you have to be weary.

Noel

how long will it take to be approved for a beta release once we sign up?

Lukas

I like http://smslemon.com. I can send, receive, browse my smses and many things by the web site. All smses are sent from my phone. The phone synchronizes with the smslemon in real time.

Was looking for such an app from some time. This is perfect. But I have a little worry about my privacy? syncing my personal sms with third party service is what I am a little worried about. Is there any other work around which would let us directly connect our phone to computer to send and receive sms without any third party involvement?

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AddictiveTips is a tech blog focused on helping users find simple solutions to their everyday problems. We review the best desktop, mobile and web apps and services out there, in addition to useful tips and guides for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Read more...